Terrorists and Moral Values

“How can you say there are objective moral values when Muslim terrorists sincerely believe it is right to kill infidels?” This was a question William Lane Craig got after his talk, “Arguments for the Existence of God.” Here’s his answer in a nutshell: Just because terrorists think terrorism’s a good thing, that doesn’t mean objective moral laws aren’t real. It just means the terrorist’s got it all wrong.

Objective moral laws are real and that fact doesn’t change, even if people disagree about whether or not a certain action’s good or evil. Grab a virtual front-row seat at the Bayside Apologetics Seminar and watch how Dr. Craig answers this:

Press F5 if the ‘play’ button is not visible in the video above.

[Video Transcript]

If they sincerely believe it’s right, then they also believe in objective moral values. There’s no contradiction here at all. It’s just that we have a disagreement about what the objective moral truths are. To say that there are objective moral values doesn’t mean that there won’t be moral disagreements. Or that there won’t be moral growth as you come to see that maybe you were wrong in the past and now you have a clearer perspective on things.

Don’t confuse the reality of moral values with the knowledge of them.

To say that there are objective moral values doesn’t mean we are infallible in our moral apprehensions. I think we do apprehend objective moral values, but many times, we can make mistakes.

I think the Muslim terrorists have made a terrible mistake. And the reason is: I think they have the wrong god. The god that they think has commanded them to do this doesn’t exist. Therefore, they are terribly, and tragically mistaken. But there’s no contradiction at all here between someone believing that something is objectively right and there being objective moral values and duties.

[End Transcript]

That night, Dr. Craig also presented a version of the ontological argument (using the idea of possible worlds), the kalam cosmological argument, the teleological argument, and the moral argument for the existence of God. After this question and answer section, he finished out the evening by presenting evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus.

So, there you have it. Dr. Craig is an exceptionally well-spoken lecturer and I consider it an honor to have studied under him during my graduate program. I never thought I’d be speaking alongside him at an apologetics seminar like this one! This whole weekend was a total blessing for everyone involved.